A certainty of hopelessness: debt, depression, and the discharge of student loans under the Bankruptcy Code.: An article from: Law and Psychology Review
A certainty of hopelessness: debt, depression, and the discharge of student loans under the Bankruptcy Code.: An article from: Law and Psychology Review
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Citation Details
Title: A certainty of hopelessness: debt, depression, and the discharge of student loans under the Bankruptcy Code.
Author: Katheryn E. Hancock
Publication: Law and Psychology Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2009
Publisher: The Law & Psychology Review
Volume: 33 Page: 151(16)
Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning
List Price: $ 9.95
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John Boehner tells American Unemployed its Your Fault for Being Lazy
Image by Cory M. Grenier
Republican House Speaker, John Boehner recently stated that if Americans cannot find work to pay for student loans, find a job, or afford a home they are simply lazy or living beyond their means. Speaker Boehner’s remarks don’t account that things have changed since he graduated in 1977 – which took him 7 years because he himself was working part-time. In the late 1970s average wages were higher in real purchasing terms, tuition less expensive, executive pay lower, most corporations paid taxes, and the US was not crippled financially by large bank bailouts and three military wars – one, the longest in US history. Note, John was discharged from the Navy after serving 8 weeks due to a bad back. How would John fair in today’s job environment with stagnant wages that are a fraction of CEO compensation, historically high tuition rates, and job growth at an all time low?
Nobel prize winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, sums this up, "With youth unemployment in America at around 20 percent (and in some locations, and among some socio-demographic groups, at twice that); with one out of six Americans desiring a full-time job not able to get one; with one out of seven Americans on food stamps (and about the same number suffering from “food insecurity”)—given all this, there is ample evidence that something has blocked the vaunted “trickling down” from the top 1 percent to everyone else." Mr. Boehner ignores the fact that the top 1% wealth relies on the well-being of the bottom 99%.
The Institute for Policy Studies states CEO compensation is 319 times more than the average employee, compared to only 30 times in the 1970s when Rep. Boehner was in school. Median CEO pay rose 27% in 2010, compared to private sector employee growth of just 2.1%. The top five executives at banks accepting the most taxpayer funded federal bailout money, averaged compensation of million each in 2006 – 2008. Since 2008, the top 20 firms who received taxpayer funds have terminated 160,000 Americans. A Labor Department’s consumer price index that measures the actual cost of living hit a record high in Feb 2011, at 126.9 pts.
A new Wal Mart employee makes .75 an hour, grossing ,650 per year. The National Center for Education Statistics states that average annual cost of public college tuition and expenses is ,000. Rep. Boehner served as Bush’s chairman on the House Education and Workforce Committee for five years, where he was key to passing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. In Dec, 2010, five years after Boehner’s Education leadership, the U.S. ranked 30th in Math, 23rd in Science compared to first place Shanghai students in a 60 nation PISA student assessment of 15 year olds.
Not surprisingly, John Boehner also vented at taxes and unions, “Your taxes going up too much? That’s what you get for electing a democrat president. Never had a job after you got a degree? You learned nothing in school and you’re lazy.” Boehner’s comments come at a time when Sen. Bernie Sanders released that GE paid no US taxes on profits of billion, and actually received a refund .1 Billion from the IRS, while taxpayer funded Bank of America also paid no taxes and received a .9 billion refund.
It is worrisome that John Boehner is so detached from the current plight of Americans seeking a job after graduation and easily discounts reasons why home ownership is becoming unattainable for the average person.
Sources:
John Boehner Calls American graduates lazy
www.redesign.rumormiller.com/story.php?title=boehner-the-…
John Boehner Served 8 weeks in Military: www.enquirer.com/editions/2002/09/23/loc_military_service…
Joseph Stiglitz, "Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%"
www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-perce…
CEO Compensation 319 times average employee:
www.ips-dc.org/reports/executive_excess_2009
CEO Pay up 27%, employee wage up 2.1%: www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2011-03-31-ce…
Consumer Price Index – Hits Record High
www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2011-03-18-cost-of-living-…
Wal Mart Employee earns .75 an hour:
jonathanturley.org/2010/07/03/walmart-ceo-makes-average-w…
College Cost and Tuition
www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2010/08/24/the-average-co…
Shanghai Students Top in Math and Science: news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/12/shanghai-stude…
Two thirds of US Corporations pay Zero Tax
www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/apr/03/too-big-to-fail-…
New Laws Effective January 1, 2010
The following legislation will take effect beginning Jan. 1, 2010.
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Matt Berkus, Denver area bankruptcy attorney at Methner & Associates discusses the challenges of student loan debt for those with financial hardship.
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