The cost of going to college during the last decade especially has become a huge economic disaster for this country.
And the Great Recession didn't help when there was all this pressure to 'pay whatever it takes' because how else was a young person ever to get ahead? So they did and now look at what we've got.
Of course, a whole bunch of these 'Millennials' never even finished with a degree, but they've got the student loan debt anyway.
These young folks take this seriously, too. They know that taking on anymore debt (to buy a car, for instance) is just not possible. They know that they have to take any job within six months of graduating because the loan payments start then -- and that means even low-wage Walmart and McDonald's jobs if absolutely necessary.
They know that getting married and having kids is problematic if they cannot even afford rent -- so much for consumer spending from this cohort for another decade or so.
So, you bet they are living with their parents -- the student loan debt burden is going to put a damper on any so-called economic recovery for years and years and years.
But, hey, Repuglicans and Democrats in Congress can tie student loan interest rates to the ten year bond and that 'market' solution -- what a deal! Not.
We need to forgive a lot of student debt if we are going to get this nation's economy back on track. Just a few weeks of diverting to loan forgiveness the military contracts to the gravy train/welfare of defense corporations is all it would take.
Of course, that won't happen. But we are in for a very long era of economic stagnation in part because of this student loan debt catastrophe we have created.
(My recently graduated son moves back home next week -- thanks University of Colorado, your eight percent yearly tuition increases helped a lot!)
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