Good Morning-
I'm very glad to report that we are now approaching 200,000 signatures on the petition. I spoke with Wayne Johnson, the recently resigned Chief Operating Officer of the federal student loan system last week. While we have been claiming that 65% of all student loan borrowers are in distress, it turns out that the actual number is around 80%. In other words, 4 out of 5 student loan borrowers will never be able to pay off their student loans. They are either in default, forbearance, deferment, delinquency, or their balance continues to rise despite their making payments.
This was before the coronavirus crisis.
For 15 years, our group fought very moderately for the return of bankruptcy protections to these loans. The time for that really has passed. The overwhelming majority of the $1.8 Trillion outstanding will simply never be collected, and even President Obama acknowledged that 60% was unrecoverable (and this was 6 years ago, when the balance was far lower. At this point, it really makes no sense to force 20 million citizens into bankruptcy because of this "fundamentally broken" lending system (Wayne Johnson's words, not mine).
Make no mistake folks. This lending system is a national threat. The Washington Post says that cancelling student loans is the only way to avoid a Depression. The Taxpayers have made a killing on this lending system over the past decade. Most of the outstanding balance is interest, and capitalized interest. So...Don't feel bad, the taxpayers will be just fine!
Our petition becomes all the more important, folks. We could have 40 million signatures on this petition. Almost EVERYONE YOU KNOW is having a VERY tough time with their student loans, whether they've told you or not. It is so important that we tell everyone we know with student loans about this petition.
-Will you please boost it?
-Will you please paste the link to it in at least 25 places today?
THE MOST PATRIOTIC THING THAT YOU CAN DO TODAY, THIS WEEK, THIS MONTH, AND BEYOND (IF NECESSARY) IS HELP US FIGHT. GET THIS PETITION TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW WITH STUDENT LOANS. BOOST IT. SHARE THE LINK.
We deserve this. College used to be very inexpensive to the point where students could save up tuition by working in the summertime. In 1965, when the lending system was unveiled, President Lyndon Johnson declared that the loans would be "free of interest". Anyone telling you otherwise either does not know what they are talking about, or they are making money from this unconstitutional, predatory lending system.
It is time for us to be free, and the Founders would be the first to agree.
Please don't forget that. We fight this fight not just for ourselves, but also for the tens- or hundreds of millions of people who will follow in our footsteps.
Godspeed-
Alan
ps. Will you please also send a note to a reporter, or news organization that you think should be covering this? It will help.