In this town hall meeting on UStream, Barack Obama says that a student with a student loan today finds that the interest rate on that loan keeps being raised “just like a credit card.” As a result, people are finding themselves in “a spiral of debt.” 

Barack Obama Town Hall Meeting On UStreamTV

The problem, of course, is because the low-interest Direct Student Loan program (under which I borrowed and repaid my school loan money) has been replaced, under this administration, with private lenders. The result has been a world of hurt, especially since the cost of attending community college has risen 40% in the last five years.

Millions of young Americans who should go to college to meet our worker needs (as well as their own economic needs) are unable to do so. Plus the big banks – all of whom issue credit cards and receive government subsidies (remember that when you make your credit card payment) – have withdrawn from making loans for 2-year degrees, thus undercutting the backbone of the American workforce.

This will add to our shortage of nurses, firefighters, farmers and other skilled laborers. Plus 80% of America’s fastest-growing jobs require at least a 2-year degree. 

The result is that smart young men and women will get stuck in low-paying jobs – if they can find jobs – and will struggle just to live. They will – no doubt – be targeted for credit card offers and [Read more →]

Unfortunately, for the last eight years, the current administration has seemed to say that it was everyone’s patriotic duty to keep the U.S. economy afloat by buying more stuff, even if it meant getting deeper in debt. But the interest rates and fees that consumers are being charged now due to sudden “re-pricing” – without any interference by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency – is turning buying on credit into a nightmare.

Maybe we’re ready for a change. Maybe “Obama” fever is partly about reclaiming our self-worth regardless of income or possessions. Maybe it signals a desire to get real, to admit being in debt. Maybe we’ll find we will respect ourselves more once we reduce our credit card debt, and find that we are okay with living within our means, no matter how humble they may be.

This from the L.A. Times about Barack Obama’s visit to Chicago where he appeared at the Illinois Institute of Technology:

“The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee…scolded the credit card industry and predatory lenders for charging high fees to economically stressed consumers. [Read more →]