We were told in 2008 that certain financial institutions, certain industries were too big to fail. As the Great Recession sent the global economic system into a tailspin, we were told that certain financial institutions and companies were so large and interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to our economy.
We were then told in 2009 that Congress needed to step in and use tax dollars to save the faltering economy, to instill confidence, to trigger economic growth.
All the while, we have been told since 9/11 that America had to leave its borders, invade Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as bomb other countries, in order to keep us safe from terrorism. We have also been told since 2001 that the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy would spur economic growth and there would be a trickle down effect for “the rest of us,” as Cornel West and Tavis Smiley call the non-rich in their new book.
In total, Congress authorized the federal government to shell out $700 billion for the Trouble Asset Relief Program (TARP) or bank bailout, and another $787 billion for an economic stimulus package to cut taxes, extend social benefits, and create jobs in October 2008. Since 2001, according to one estimate, the War on Terror has cost American taxpayers $4 trillion, and according to The New York Times, the Bush-era tax cuts have reduced tax revenues by about $1.8 trillion between 2002 and 2009, the single biggest contributor to the deficit.
When you add all of that up, the money given to war, banks, the rich, and to spur the economy, you are talking about approximately $7.3 trillion!
While Congress dished out trillions in the last decade, student debt rose like a hand from an attentive student in a classroom. A generation of students and parents is staring solemnly at a growing mountain of debt that has now eclipsed the staggering $1 trillion mark. Student loan debt in the United States amazingly passed credit card debt in 2010. About two-thirds of this student debt is held by people under 30 and not all of them even have college degrees. Since 1980, average tuition for a four-year college has jumped 827 percent, while the average student loan debt has leaped 511 percent since 1999. Not surprisingly, bank executives are found on many trustee boards of colleges and universities, probably rejoicing when tuition goes higher, and higher and higher.
The heart-wrenching stories of these debt-laden students have spiraled across the Internet, so there is no need to retell them here. The dismal effects student debt is having on our economy have been discussed elsewhere, from the increasing default rates to its burden on households to what people are calling the “student debt bubble.”
