45 million Americans hold a total of $1.7 trillion in education debt. How did we get here?
Guido sits down with writer and filmmaker Astra Taylor to discuss the seeds of the current crisis. How did government-backed, private loans and an anti-civil rights, anti-peace movement backlash led by Ronald Reagan and neoliberal economists produce the historic debt crisis in higher education?
Also, there’s a small bit of good news for student debtors in the American Rescue Plan, and AOC says: the time is ripe to mobilize and win. But how? In the second half, Guido talks to Umme Hoque, the Organizing Director of the Debt Collective, about her decision to go on a debt strike and demand Joe Biden cancel all student debt.
Waleed stops by to contemplate President Biden canceling Senator Biden for supporting welfare work requirements in the 1990s, and wonders if Biden’s newfound, self-directed cancel culture could extend to federal student loan borrowers.
Readings & resources:
- You Are Not A Loan, a film by Astra Taylor
- Umme Hoque: I'm going on a debt strike. The Biden administration must cancel student debt:
- Debt Collective
- Anne Helen Petersen: The future of the middle class depends on student loan forgiveness
- Most Black voters support eliminating student loan debt, new survey finds
- Corinthian College Student With $30K In Loans Refuses To Pay, Takes Part In Debt Strike
- Rep. Pressley on the Education Debt Crisis & A New Deal for Higher Ed
- The Political Case For Student Debt Cancellation
- The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities and How We Can Fix Them, by Christopher Newfield