Forum Post: Occupy Student Debt Campaign
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 29, 2011, 9:09 p.m. EST by dealdoctor
(148)
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Pass this website to students. It has a pledge not to repay government student debt until unjust issues are addressed. When one million sign on it will be implemented http://www.occupystudentdebtcampaign.org/
There is really no intelligent argument here, in no sane world is it ok to borrow money then renig on the debt just because you dont want to/claim you cannot pay it.
Refusal to pay debts is simply a form of non-violent protest. It is a breaking of law no question. How silly is it for people to all go sit down in the middle of a public street or block a bridge? How silly to start shouting "Mic Check!" in the middle of a foreclosure court? Why would anyone ever do such things? It is all but uncivilized except when there is an emergency and now we have a national emergency. The flag should be flown upside down. The nation is under financial attack by the ultra powerful and people are in the streets because of that. Big money has bought our governmental representatives and plundered our treasury in the bailouts. If you do not hold that position then any form of non-violent protest will make no sense to you. Things are fine.
There are hundreds of ways to get the attention of the establishment that are non-violent but all those things disrupt the norm and the established accepted ways of a a society. The good thing is that they are non-violent. Hey, the world is already not sane at this point. When 400 people in America have more wealth than 150,000,000 people this is not a sane system. When banks who caused the collapse with their fraud get bailed out and the people who got screwed get sold out the financial system is already in some kind of crazy days space. The student loans issue is a small portion of the debt Americans now owe to the financially powerful.
If you are saying that for students to protest non-violently by refusal to pay their student debt UNTIL their real human needs are addressed would be stupid when those human needs are respected and considered I would fully agree. When they are treated as cogs in a politically and economically corrupt system it might be time for actions of non-violent protest and civil disobedience. Actions of all kinds that do no bodily harm to others.
The powerless can not buy politicians and they did not get bailouts like multinational corporations and banksters. It is those corporations which are being treated as "persons". Whew! I am against violent revolution. I am for unorthodox non-violent actions which arrest the attention of the 1% in ways that make their life less comfortable and normal. King Cash needs to hear, really hear, from the wage slaves and debt crushed students in America. Is Cash your King? Bow down. Some of us are citizens and refuse to be defined as mere consumers. Also do get a clue the entire monetary system is flawed at the core. That issue makes repayment of student loans a mute. Be sure to tip your waiter on the Titanic before you both go down or you could both do everything you can to stop the real problem the ship of state is in dire crisis. See The Money Masters http://www.themoneymasters.com/
Is there a list I can sign to get a unicorn...since we are asking for outrageous things ...
Since when do you borrow money and not pay it back?
With over 1T in debt, and the global finance scheme collapsing, dont worry.
Student loan debt will be the least of your problems...
There's over 10 trillion in debt isn't there? Closer to 15 or just over I think.
One T in student loan debt. Student will owe as much as the entire COUNTRY did in 1980 in three years....
Its gonna burst. Its all gonna burst. Expect everything.
Got it. Sorry. I'm ready for the apocalypse if that's what you mean.
oh yeah. good luck getting 1 million people willing to go back on their word/legal agreement made over their signature. Especially since their parent's homes are often collateral.
good point, but some have nothing to lose.
Except for the roof over their heads.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/17/student-loans_n_929516.html
While the job market remains sluggish, student loan debt continues to rise, fueling fears that a higher-education spending bubble may be underway.
Outstanding student debt has climbed 25 percent since the start of the financial crisis in 2008, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York -- an increase from $440 billion then to $550 billion now. By contrast, every other major category of consumer debt, including mortgage debt, credit card debt, auto loans and home equity loans, is lower today than it was in the fall of 2008.
Not only has student debt risen precipitously, but more and more of those loans aren't getting paid off on time. In the second quarter of 2011, the rate of student loans that were more than 90 days past due rose from 10.6 percent to 11.2 percent, according to the New York Fed.
Looking at other major types of debt -- again, including home loans, auto loans and mortgage and credit card debt -- those delinquency rates either declined or stayed flat for the quarter. But delinquency rates for student loans rose and continue to rise
There are ways to attend college other than loans.
Facts are stubborn things. 90 day past due student loans are at 11.2 %. that means something in the real world.
I agree with you but it was a choice of the students to A. take the loan and B. default on it.
It means there is a crisis, definitely in the lives of millions of recent college graduates, and the problem is growing, not receding.
For the vast majority, it is an inconvenience, not a crisis.
A growing minority are finding it not feasable to pay these debts. Many more can pay but at great sacrifice. How can a person live, start a life and pay off a debt of $40,000 + with an income of $27,000 a year?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/business/economy/19grads.html
Many With New College Degree Find the Job Market Humbling
Jessica Hill/Associated Press Graduates at the University of Michigan commencement ceremony in Ann Arbor in April. By CATHERINE RAMPELL Published: May 18, 2011
The individual stories are familiar. The chemistry major tending bar. The classics major answering phones. The Italian studies major sweeping aisles at Wal-Mart. Multimedia
The Downsized College Graduate Employment rates for new college graduates have tanked. Are there factors other than the economy to blame? Add to Portfolio
Microsoft Corporation Wal-Mart Stores Inc Go to your Portfolio » Readers’ Comments "This is exactly what the corporate elite desire - educated, in debt, in no position to ask for anything. The perfect employee. Why stop here? Let's bring back slavery while we are at it." Chris, Peoria, AZ Read Full Comment » Now evidence is emerging that the damage wrought by the sour economy is more widespread than just a few careers led astray or postponed. Even for college graduates — the people who were most protected from the slings and arrows of recession — the outlook is rather bleak.
Employment rates for new college graduates have fallen sharply in the last two years, as have starting salaries for those who can find work. What’s more, only half of the jobs landed by these new graduates even require a college degree, reviving debates about whether higher education is “worth it” after all.
“I have friends with the same degree as me, from a worse school, but because of who they knew or when they happened to graduate, they’re in much better jobs,” said Kyle Bishop, 23, a 2009 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh who has spent the last two years waiting tables, delivering beer, working at a bookstore and entering data. “It’s more about luck than anything else.”
The median starting salary for students graduating from four-year colleges in 2009 and 2010 was $27,000, down from $30,000 for those who entered the work force in 2006 to 2008, according to a study released on Wednesday by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. That is a decline of 10 percent, even before taking inflation into account.
If its so obvious to you then why are these college graduates not handling this information?
huh?
What's not clear?
Once these college graduates "handle this information" then what?
Well actually I meant people going into college. Its not something you take lightly. I for one have already done loads of the required research.
It's kind of a bleak choice. Stop your formal education because it can't be afforded, and go try to find a gig waiting tables, or go to college, and maybe end up waiting tables and being totally in debt.
Where exactly did the money to go to college come from before the loan system was set up?
Yeah, lots of tough things in this economy. For a lot of people. But your suggestion of mass defaults is (in my opinion) a recipe for much worse.
[-] kingscrosssection 1 points 0 minutes ago Where exactly did the money to go to college come from before the loan system was set up? ↥like ↧dislike permalink
College was a lot cheaper. College costs have been outpacing inflation for decades. [-] MBJ 0 points 6 minutes ago Yeah, lots of tough things in this economy. For a lot of people. But your suggestion of mass defaults is (in my opinion) a recipe for much worse. ↥like ↧dislike permalink
I'm not suggesting the defaults, necessity is forcing them to happen. A political solution would be a good thing. Organizing recent grads to defend their interests during this crisis ought to be w=part of what OW is about.