Student debt (E10)
In this episode, Front Running looks at the proposals to deal with the student debt issue weighing down on the economic futures of the Millennials and Generation Z.
For this episode of Front Running, Max and Stacy are joined by guests Dr. Michael Hudson, an economist and author of 'Super Imperialism,' Professor Steve Keen, an economics professor and the author of 'Debunking Economics,' and Randy Voller, the former mayor of Pittsboro, North Carolina, and the former head of the Democratic Party of North Carolina. Student debt has more than tripled in under a decade, now topping out at $1.6 trillion. This rapid increase in the debt load on young people is not only harming household formation, but also the overall economy, which needs more consumers and mortgage debt holders to keep it all afloat. It is an issue animating a large voting block of young voters demanding their debts be written off, so that they, like previous generations, can start adulthood without the burden of so much debt. The inflation-busting annual increases in the cost of education are largely down to the introduction of the neoliberal ideology in the mid to late 80s, which saw education pitched as an individual good rather than a societal one. A degree was a product just like any consumer good, and administrators were the best to sell this product rather than professors or educators. So which of the candidates for the Democratic nomination offers the best chance to deal with this debt? Is Bernie Sanders' plan to wipe out all the debt and make tuition free the right choice? Or is Elizabeth Warren's plan to forgive up to $50,000 in debt and then offer lower interest rates on new debt a more sensible plan? How can this system be handled at all, if we don't even have an industrial capitalism here anymore? Tune in to hear what 'Front Running' has to say about the great student debt problem.