Casualties of Debt: Selling Americas Students to the BanksAlex Pietrowski For our young adults, the American dream of prosperity has regressed to a new tradition of being unemployed or overworked, and buried under a growing mound of debt. Higher Education Trains Us for Financial Enslavement America has always prided itself in the quality of its institutions of higher education. Today, however, the college experience is vastly different than it was just a short 50 years ago. Students come to college unprepared for study and for life; and more often than not, are unable to cover the cost of a college education without taking financial aid in the form of government, bank, and personal loans. All the while depending on credit cards for the necessities of college life. Attending college leaves 2/3 of college graduates in serious debt before they even enter the workforce. In 2011, this debt was to the tune of $26,600 on average, up 5% from 2010, with some of the increase said to have been caused by an increase in the accessibility of financial aid to students. Out of the approximately 37 million outstanding school loan borrowers in mid 2012 (thats 12% of the US population), over 1/3 of these are under the age of 30 and, stunningly, about 18% are over the age of 50. (Sources: CNN and American Student Assistance) Institutions that offer school loans continue to offer more financial aid to a wider demographic of students, under the guise of non-discrimination and opportunity. In other words, there is push by lenders into to new markets for selling the dream of professional success. As a result, 2/3 of graduates begin a life of debt service before theyve even received their diploma. This is a recipe for creating a social class of indentured wage slaves, not for developing a nation of capable, creative, and happy people. Americas youth has been sold into an insidious new form of economic slavery. Life After College Getting a job out of college has never been more difficult. Once working, many graduates, even the ones with good-paying jobs, arent necessarily successful, because they are personally unhappy even depressed and, as a result, some researchers say that Americans will change careers up to 7 times in their lifetime! (Source: Wall Street Journal) Others indicate that more than half of job openings in the US are filled by people starting a new occupation or entering a new industry. (Source: Huffington Post) A tough job market often means that you go where the jobs are the trendy and fun metropolitan areas where the money is. Meaning expensive. And as an independent adult, you are faced with the reality of the rising cost of living in most major US cities. In February 2011, the US Department of Labor reported that the cost of living for Americans hit an all-time high, with no sign of relief in sight. Heaven forbid you decide to marry, have a child and take on the expense of daycare. High living costs, reinforced by a very slow increase in income gains, have resulted in America, once the land of opportunity, becoming the land of stagnant wages and unsustainable debt. By the end of 2011, many two-income American households were at a risk of not being able to afford their basic essentials, such as food, medical care and utilities. (Source: Huffington Post) Consumer Culture In Search of Fulfillment This picture of personal financial wreckage, overspending, and living beyond ones means, is the prevailing undercurrent of the cultural dynamic in the United States. We have totally submitted to our desire for luxury goods, new cars (fixing the old cars is so darn expensive; just lease a new one), the newest electronics (you already have an iPhonebut the new iPhone 5 will make you just SO much cooler around your friends), bigger houses (it is against building codes to build homes below a certain size, with new homes averaging around 2100 square feet), and on, and on. Where do we get the money for all of these possessions? Credit cards and bank loans! In the name of stimulating the economy, and under the parody of financial freedom, our culture now creates consumers, not citizens. For everything else, theres Mastercard! Citizens are even called consumers in nearly all media reporting and thus we are further brainwashed to believe that our main purpose of existence on this earth is to consume. As a result, weve stimulated the American economy to the tune of: (Sources: Forbes and Federal Reserve) What is our response to this debt crisis? Lower interest rates and take out more loans which rose 10% in January 2013! Havent we learned anything from watching the corrupt banking system lie and steal, deflating the value of our currencies and jeopardizing any chance of financial stability? Debt and institutionalized financial thievery is such an integral part of the American tradition nowadays that we even parody ourselves in movies like Inside Job. Sources: AlexPietrowskiis an artist and writer concerned with preserving good health and the basic freedom to enjoy a healthy lifestyle. He is a staff writer forWakingTimes.comand an avid student of Yoga and life. linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 