The only way to stimulate the U.S. economy without adding to the deficit is to eliminate debt without devaluing broader economic assets. This proposal calls for an immediate write down of a fraction of outstanding student loan debt. Jump below to share your thoughts and sign a petition. And please rec the diary. To succeed, we will need enthusiastic and widespread support.
If you agree with the following, then visit this Facebook event site and say you'll attend. If you're not sure, then please click maybe, and write suggestions on the wall. After the event's completion date, and hopefully with lots of attendees/petitioners, the refined proposals will be marketed to Congress for inclusion in the next fiscal stimulus package. Be sure to invite and spread the word to friends.
WHEREAS,
* Younger people are drowning in student loan debt, and the situation is especially dire for people who have gone to school to earn degrees to enter caring professions - social work, teaching, nursing, higher education, etc.;
* After adjusting for inflation, salaries for these jobs have been stagnant since 1980;
* Qualifications needed to begin a career in the caring professions have increased, while grants to help people get these qualifications have eroded;
* Increasingly, people who seek to enter caring professions can do so only by taking on debt;
* Expanding student debt burdens put constant inflationary pressure on care service costs, which harms all American consumers and businesses;
* Banks in the U.S value student loan debt at a fraction of what students are obliged to pay back;
* These banks wouldn't be solvent without the good graces, and additional debt-burden, of the U.S. government;
* The U.S. government's most pressing and immediate task is to stimulate the U.S. economy and to reintroduce credit while reducing systematic economic risk; and
* Outstanding student debt limits the resources that millions of educated American workers have to spend on food, housing, savings, and investment, and to thereby help to care for others in need and to stabilize the U.S. economy.
With all this in mind, the Democratic Congressional Leadership should do the following:
- include a provision in the next economic stimulus package to write down all student loan debt by some considerable fraction (30%?). By doing so, Congress will immediately expand the cash on hand for millions of Americans every month, and do so without expanding the U.S. deficit; and
- Institute mechanisms to regularly write down or forgive large portions (70%?) of student loan debt for persons who are studying at public universities to enter service careers - nursing, family medicine, education, social work, etc.. By doing so, Congress will promote a culture of public service and alleviate inflationary pressures in social service sectors.
Click here to sign the Facebook petition