How U.S. Capitalism Buries Students in Debt
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 24 August 2022
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On today's episode Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the student debt crisis. With an announcement expected imminently on the fate of the national freeze on student debt payments, pressure is mounting on the Biden administration to not only extend the moratorium, but also cancel a substantial amount of the crushing debt burden tens of millions of people in the United States are under. How did we end up in a situation where borrowers have accumulated over $1.7 trillion in debt just because they wanted to get an education?
Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | With an announcement expected imminently on the fate of the national freeze on student debt payments, |
| 0:07.8 | pressure is mounting on the Biden administration to not only extend the moratorium, |
| 0:12.4 | but also cancel a substantial amount of the crushing debt burden that tens of millions of people |
| 0:19.2 | in the United States are under. How did we end up in a |
| 0:22.3 | situation where borrowers have accumulated over $1.7 trillion in debt just because they wanted |
| 0:30.3 | to get an education? We need a new system. We need a new society. We need to demand that which may have sounded impossible even a few weeks ago, but it's not a new system. We need a new society. We need to demand that which may have sounded impossible |
| 0:39.3 | even a few weeks ago, but is not only realizable, but an imperative necessity. We are very excited to have Professor Richard Wolfe join us for a regular weekly segment |
| 1:12.3 | where we discuss the biggest stories relating to the economy, the state of the working class, |
| 1:17.1 | and the crimes of big business. I'm Walter Smolerick, filling in for Brian Becker. |
| 1:21.6 | The Socialist Program brings you content three days a week thanks to the support of our patrons |
| 1:26.0 | at patreon.com slash the socialist program. |
| 1:29.7 | We appreciate all of your support and encourage you to become a patron today if you enjoy listening to the show. |
| 1:35.6 | Richard Wolfe is the co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work and the author of many books, |
| 1:40.9 | the latest being The Sickness is the the System, when capitalism fails to save us |
| 1:45.8 | from pandemics or itself, you can check out all of his work at R.D.Wolf.com. |
| 1:53.2 | Well, Professor Wolfe, we're talking just a little bit before this announcement by the Biden |
| 1:58.8 | administration. The nationwide freeze on student debt repayments |
| 2:03.7 | expires at the end of the month, and the administration is about to make a decision about, |
| 2:10.4 | well, two things. One, whether or not to extend that moratorium, extend that freeze on |
| 2:16.4 | repayments, which is widely expected. |
| 2:19.2 | And then there have been some media reports that suggest that $10,000 in student debt cancellation |
| 2:26.0 | is on the table and favored by some people in the administration. |
... |
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