According to Market Watch, "Roughly 1.1. million borrowers entered default on their Direct Loans, a type of federal student loan, last year, about the same as the previous year."  The "loan repayment programs," promising better terms and eventual forgiveness, do nothing to help most borrowers.

We're a nation which has spent $800 billion on the Iraq War and $400 billion on the Afghanistan War.  Taxpayer money gets wasted on federally-funded projects such as $500,000 on a teapot museum, $48,500 to write about Russian smokers, and $65,473 to figure out what bugs do near a lightbulb.  These are just a few examples; others abound, not least of which is $42,718,739 for a gas station in Afghanistan.

If our government can afford to waste money on all this, then it can afford to forgive student loan debt.  This move would do wonders for the economy:

• No student loans mean young people could afford to buy homes and cars;
• No student loans mean older people could afford to retire;
• No student loans mean more consumer spending.

It's a win-win for our nation. Please join me in asking the Department of Education to do the right thing.