Jill Stein and Student Debt Forgiveness.

So one thing I keep getting told about Jill Stein is that she wants to forgive all college debt. Hey, sign me up for that, man oh man, not having $90,000 worth of debt hanging over my head, killing my credit score, and at least a monthly phone call asking about paying more on my repayment plan would be sweet. It would mean that I could spend money elsewhere, like that awesome little Italian place that has the best pizza and food in the community, I'm sure they would love it if I went in there more than once a month.

As it stands today, there is a trillion dollar lag on the economy, that would be those of us who have college loan debt. Some of us are barely hanging on, others of us are in default, and some of us are going to be paying on those things until the day we die. Yes, we signed up for the loans, we made the choice to take on debt loads based on future earnings, we made a bad call, and now many of us are asking that we get a do-over.

Say what you will, everyone deserves a second chance to escape debt, actually, they deserve as many chances as it takes to get out of debt, without it being held over our heads. The current debt forgiveness deal is a joke. Sure, I pay as I earn, but lets be real, when you are barely holding on as it is, and you have to take $20 a month (which is where I am at right now), that is a lot of money. Some people stagger by making the full payment, my full payment is about $800, and there are people who have higher payments than my own. That is money coming out of the economy, that is money not being spent on productive means. It is money that is going into a black hole.

So, Stein says she wants to forgive all debt, and I like the idea, but I am a details oriented type. How is she going to do this? I am not asking this in terms of how she is going to do it, I mean its basically a bailout, like in 2008. I am asking how she will do it, without congress, and without it being kicked back, or tied up in courts for the next twenty years. I ask, because I do not see the president having the authority to do it. Sure, the argument can be made that the president is the head of the executive branch, they are tasked with enforcement of laws, and that would include contracts. I can see that argument being made, but on a practical level, I do not see it panning out well. Not for Stein, and certainly not for people who hold the debt.

See, this is where I have problems. We are not really thinking things through. By all means we need to unshackle people from debt, and we need to ensure that getting secondary education, be it a four year degree or trade skills education, do not put people in debt for decades. It would bolster a lagging economy in many ways. Remember, rather than sending money into a black hole, it would be used in productive means, which allows for businesses to grow, and that equals more jobs. But how are we going to get there, without it being tied up, or congress flipping its wig and doing everything in its power to kill said forgiveness.

It is at this point, that I am going to say it again. We need to take control of our government. This is a problem that should have never, and I mean never come forth. Just like so many problems, while we were squabbling over this or that, it reared its ugly little head, turned into a monster, and started ripping everyone's head off. So, I am glad that student loan debt is finally starting to get attention, I openly say it needs to go extinct. But I want some specifics on this deal, otherwise it is just someone writing in the sand, while we wait for the tide to roll in and wash it away. I honestly do not see Stein being able to accomplish forgiving student loan debt, but I am also willing to try and get it done. Dream big, reach far, and if you come up short, no harm no foul.