Every year, it seems, I end my AP US History course by watching The Big Short. It's a lively, intelligent take on the 2006-8 housing bubble, complete with some brief nudity and adult language to keep the kids on their toes. #TeacherOfTheYear
What is striking every time I see it, is how obvious the markers were. I can remember being worried about a housing bubble when we bought our house in 2004. And then there was the debt levels that mortgages represented for the average American. Debt - in and of itself - isn't a bad a thing. Too much debt relative to income clearly is.
Which brings me to student loans. These loans could very well be a ticking time bomb in the current economy. Unlike mortgages, they aren't adjustable rate loans, so maybe we don't have a Come to Jesus moment, like mortgages. But the debt levels many Americans are taking on is unsustainable. This is the handmaiden of wealth inequality and stagnant wages, but it's real.
I'm not on board with making four year college free. But the way we are structuring student debt has to change. It's a massive choke collar on the economy and could be a noose.
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