OWS: Let’s Amend the Bankruptcy Laws

I recognize that the Occupy movement so far has eschewed participatory politics in favor of blanket protest and raising awareness in the public mind of severe societal problems like income and wealth inequality, the corporate control over our political system, and the crippling student debt so many have been saddled with over the past decade or so.

But if there is one specific piece of affirmative legislation it seems to me the movement could and should get behind, it would be amending the law to make student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy once more.  Indeed, this should be a no-brainer.  The elimination of this substantial debt overhang would benefit the individuals themselves, it would benefit the country by helping free up income to be spent in the actual economy, and it would be the moral thing to do.  I also think it would do a great deal to rein in the skyrocketing cost of higher education, but I’ll admit to a bit of speculation on that last point.

They Are the 1% - A Really Scary Follow Up

Following up on yesterday’s post that was, in part, about how Americans were encouraged over the past 30 years to take on more and more debt in order to make up for the fact that nearly all income growth in the country during that time was being funneled to the few people at the very tippy-top of America’s economic pyramid, here are two additional factoids, below the fold: