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Proposal approved by 10/15 General Assembly
Occupy Portland will be demonstrating for student loan reform!
We are joining with the Discharge the Debt Rally being organized by Student Loan Justice Portland. The protest is planned for Monday, Oct. 17th. At 12 noon we will demonstrate outside US Bankruptcy Court located on the corner of SW 5th Ave and SW Salmon St.
Why?
Bankers have created a student loan bubble comparable to the mortgage meltdown. Student loan debt is approaching $1 trillion. Unlike other types of debt, student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy court. This is unfair discrimination against the types of debt held by the poor and working classes.
From the Student Loan Justice fact sheet: “Student loans are the only loans in history to be exempted from bankruptcy protections, statutes of limitations, truth in lending laws, fair debt collection practices, refinancing rights, and state usury laws.”
“The special collection powers exceed those for every other type of unsecured loan in the nation, and include wage, social security, and disability income garnishment without a court order, suspension of state professional licenses, and termination from public employment.”
After graduation many students are unable to find employment in their field of study. They have no prospect of ever paying off their student loan debt and instead face a lifetime of debt servitude.
Event Demands:
- Restore consumer protection laws to the student loan industry.
- Restore discharge of all student loans (Federal and private) in bankruptcy proceedings.
- A comprehensive plan to forgive student loan debt.
- A higher education system based on grants and scholarships for everyone.
- A Congressional investigation into the collection practices of the student loan industry.
Our financial sectors need more regulation (like Glass- Speigal) and we need campaign finance reform. Our student loan system is more than fair.
From the Student Loan Justice fact sheet: “Student loans are the only loans in history to be exempted from bankruptcy protections, statutes of limitations, truth in lending laws, fair debt collection practices, refinancing rights, and state usury laws.”
Who else would provide a loan with NO VERIFIABLE CREDIT HISTORY? Of coarse it’s different than other loans! I support OWS and progress towards regulating Wall Street, but not this, this is silly.
Because there is no credit history, student loans are not part of the credit markets. They are part of a modern system of indentured servitude. Student loans were dischargable in bankruptcy court up until the 1970s. Less than one percent of loans were ever discharged in bankruptcy at that time. Then bankers decided to get involved. Now federally-guaranteed non-dischargable money has poured into the education market and tuitions have expanded like a sponge to soak up all that money. In the 1950s tuition was enormously less. People worked summer jobs and borrowed NO money. You should read The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in US History to inform yourself about this industry. Many colleges are selling worthless degrees to unsuspecting young people. Lifetime debt-servitude is an outrage and should be abolished. This system is insane and needs to be replaced with something completely different.
it was not always thus, edward. until 1976, student loans were dischargeable on the same basis as any other loan. legislation enacted that year made government insured loans dischargeable only after five years, and only on a showing of “undue hardship.” in 1990 the waiting period was increased to seven years, and in 1998 the waiting period was increased to never. in 2005 this treatment was extended to private loans. incidentally, the argument was not that lenders would not extend credit “with no credit history” absent nondischargeability. the argument was that the college degree was an asset that you could use to pay off the loan through, um, increased earnings, and dischargeability would encourage you to spend your increased earnings on something other than repaying the loan. the commission that did the study for the 1998 legislation explicitly found that there was no evidence that the system had been thus abused.
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RS22699_20070726.pdf
Actually, private loans still require a credit check or co-signer – no different than any other loan – and federal loans are guaranteed and thus carry no risk.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/15/occupy-wall-street-why-baby-boomers-don-t-understand-the-protests.html
R willis- The CRS report to congress is interesting. “Another argument is that the fear of abuse of the system is unfounded because
bankruptcy abuse is minimal. In response to the assertion that if student loans were
dischargeable, there would be massive fraud, the 1997 Bankruptcy Commission found in
its report that there was no evidence to support the assertion that when student loans were
dischargeable the bankruptcy system was “systematically abused.”
I just don’t see why Fed. student loans should be dischargeable. The above bullet point states -”Restore discharge of all student loans (Federal and private) in bankruptcy proceedings.” And more importantly, there are bigger fish to fry!
Quickest Way to Lose Weight…
[...]what follows are a couple of urls to internet pages which I link to seeing that we feel they will be worthwhile checking out[...]…
[...] MON/WED/SAT General Assembly TUE/FRI/SUN Spokes Council THUR Open Forum @7:00 PM Director Park, SW Park and Yamhill Spokes Council Model Dec. 12 ACTION! WEST COAST PORT SHUTDOWN CALENDAR How to Share An Event UPCOMING EVENTS WIKI PORTLAND OCCUPIER Newspaper GA Notes are posted here. Spokes Council notes are posted here. Contact: Email: Media: Text “PDXOccupy” to 23559 to receive emergency updates. Text “OPcomm” to 23559 to enter the OP text-chatroom.Source: occupyportland.org [...]
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