Palindromeday, if this system wasn’t so damn rigged against the non-wealthy, I would agree with you. Need I remind you that much of the debt you’re chastising is from things like medical bills and tuition? These are not the kinds of expenses that originate from stupidity, carelessness or laziness. Lumped together, they comprise the vast majority of these debts you speak of so judgmentally. Medical care and education should never be debt traps for anyone, except in a system that is abusive, cruel and predatory by design… what the esteemed Max Baucus so endearingly tagged “uniquely American”.

Of course I’m with you when it comes to banksters and corporations.

Remember, Palin, this is not the economy you and I grew up with. Debt wasn’t so widespread before Reaganomics. Thom has talked about this extensively, and he’s right.

I also disagree with your assumption that if all debt were wiped out, people would get careless and slide back into debt again. (Even those who never were in debt before?! C’mon, Palin.)

Nothing would please me more than to see this generation of non-wealthy college students rise up en masse, and start refusing to pay their student loans. Done individually, such a move would be legal & financial suicide; however en masse, it would be a powerful act of defiance. There is power in numbers!

As you noted Michael Hudson the economist having said, “Debt that can’t be paid, won’t be paid!”

The old stereotype of debtors who got that way by purchasing luxury items they couldn’t afford is the creation of propagandists shilling for the elite. Of course there will always be people who are irresponsible, self-indulgent and immature, oblivious to consequences and so forth. But I’d bet $$ they are but a small minority of the adult population. - Aliceinwonderland

This is such a great topic and as many times as it comes up in conversation it always seems to lead nowhere. Lack of voter involvement, obfuscation in the mass media, 1%ers buying or manipulating law; all are certainly inputs to the equation.

But, ultimately, we are the one's enabling the system to be what it is through our consumer habits. It's all in the numbers. There are too few level headed, thoughtful and educated people involved in the resolution and too many apathetic consumers of entertainment just following the herd. To change this system we need to stop buying the products that are being sold in the marketplace. From health care to new cars to bigger houses, nothing will change until more and more people decide to take control of their own health and start riding bicycles to work.

No excuses. Just do it. Grow your own vegetables in your back yard (500 sqft will produce far more than you think), buy range fed meat (if you're a carnivore), move into a smaller house and live simply. It's so easy that its laughable.

At our Chiropratic office in Tempe, this is the message we bring to our patient base. However, you might be shocked at how hard it is for the majority of people to adopt a simple life inspite of their agreement that it makes economic and social sense. The other option is to just enjoy the benefits of modern society and stop complaining about social injustice. As for myself and my family, we enjoy the simple life and feel free to live within the bounds afforded us by that simplicity.

If you put corporations in charge of the law, obviously they will pass laws to make themselves rich at your and my expense. And we did put them in charge and they do pass insane and predatory laws of course! For example: insignificant corporate taxes (even though they utilize most of our legal systems available time and cause most of the wear on our roads and bridges and benefit from public education), "forgiveness" of royalties due the public on natural resource like oil and timber; a law suit to ram subrpime lending down our throats after all the states try to shut it down (OCC under Bush), a three trillion dollar war to bail Halliburton out of bankrupcy and fill Koch bros.' pockets with billions on the oil extraction and infrastructure contracts; laws to force American taxpayers to bail the banks out after their criminal malfeasance puts them under...... And why of course! Or how about a law to wipe out the net capitalization rule (Paulson under Bush) so banks can gamble as much as they want on wall street even if their gambling to asset ratios run 30:1 or 40:1. Why of course I mean hey....makes sense to me! I'd love to bet 30 thousand dollars in the market on a chance to win $60,000 with only ONE thousand dollars to back up my bet ... and have the play be acceptable of course thank you very much because, you know, the American taxpayers back the missing rest of the money! Why of course! What a great law! Sure. Gosh thank you so much George Bush, and Romney, and the Koch's, and all their ilk. What fine upstanding men. Proud to be an American with you guys at the leadership.

Hey the 1% are the slackers not willing to acknowledge their obligation to American society. The economic crisis was perpetrated absolutley by the 1% - and not Romney's 47%.... And my my, it was all legal. How about that. The implementation of the bad laws were a complete and utter betrayal of the American public by conservative politicians. But with people of such weak character.....there's no having them admit culpability. Every narcisisstic predator believes themselves perfectly justified and innocent, even as they lie, cheat, steal, and murder. 40:1? why of course...because it makes me rich. War with Iraq? why of course, because it makes me rich. Social predation: hey is the best game in town and all the libertarians are playing! Because that's what libertarianism is all about: every man for himself; winner takes all; and power via money is the trump card that wins every hand.

So yes....how about the American public take charge of the law, and pass laws to suit the public's pocketbooks for a change. Like hey - a bankruptcy amnesty or some such thing. Anyone can declare bankruptcy, and we can pass a law that prohibits credit scoring institutions from recording any bankruptcies during the amnesty. Wall Street and Romeny and the Koch brothers - any of them could get such a law through for sure - and would if they thought they could make money from it.

I would consider it, if it wasn't for the constant droning of attitude towards a better, safer, cleaner America.

I'd like to see the word "Reaganomics" dropped for "Bushmenomics." Let's give credit where credit is due, and decide whether the chicken or the egg was first.

This just in! Methane interaction confirmed in creation of Siberian mystery hole.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/01/3466466/siberian-craters-permafrost-climate-change/

AIW - It is true that Congress (and their banker toadies) made it much more difficult to file bankruptcy, it's still not that hard. My income at the time I filed was just below the average for the region I live in (one of the new criteria for filing bankruptcy) and I didn't have a significant amount of assets; in fact, all of my real assets were covered by various exemptions. More than 75% of my debt was unsecured - credit cards - and I reaffirmed two of my debts - my mortgage, and my auto loan. I filed pro bono (with out a lawyer) after doing a lot (A LOT!) of reading about the bankruptcy code, the exemptions, my rights, etc. It was an interesting experience, and I hope I never have to go through it again; but the relief from all the stress of trying to keep up with the debts was a great reward.

Obviously, bankruptcy is not for everyone; and there are some people who will abuse the right (which is why congress made it more difficult). But, for many people, bankruptcy may be the best, if not the only, solution.

We just drove through the Klamath Basin last Saturday afternoon (7/26) during the hottest time of day with lowest humidity--except for the giant circular sprinklers spouting water on every alphalfa, mint and potato field in sight, save for those being inundated with flood irrigation. Sunday I read that salmon are dying in the lower Klamath River as they await sufficient cool water to make it to their spawning grounds. As they linger in warm, stagnant water, they're being sickened and killed by proliferating viruses. So, inspite of the noisy protestations of local farmers that they're the endangered specie, a nobel fish faces very real extinction while entitled humans indulge water profligacy, cultivating water-intensive crops in a desert. These "conservative" Republican stalwarts, who do the opposite of conserving, reap favorable treatment in a supposed "compromise" with salmon and migrating birds. Tell that to the dying salmon, who have no voice to lobby for their right to exist. So, California is surely in a mega-drought, but you'd never know it passing through the lush alphalfa fields and pasture lands of the arid (until irrigated) Klamath Basin where farmers spray millions of gallons of scarce water to the heavens, thinking they have a God-given right to their destructive lifestyle.

I'm surprised by your experience, "stecoop". Last I recall hearing was that Congress had tightened bankruptcy laws for us peons, making it a lot harder to access. And not long ago, I read a horrific article in The Nation about debtors' prison making a comeback in "our country 'tis of thee"!

Meanwhile our constitutional rights are being attacked from every angle by these toadies in Congress, while extortion and usury cast a broad net over the 99%. Perhaps you should consider yourself fortunate, "stecoop", to still have a life. - Aliceinwonderland

Marc, you might be misinterpreting something from me. I never intended to pursue that guy any further or make contact with him. Hell no. That discussion was going nowhere, and I was done with it. If there’s one thing I’ve learned by now, it’s when to quit. - Aliceinwonderland

Agreed.

Well, it's 10:30 a.m. so I guess, since I've been up all night, I had better get some sleep.