We’re doing the worst thing people can do: lying to our young. Nobody, not even this president, who was swept to victory in large part by the raw enthusiasm of college kids, has the stones to tell the truth: that a lot of them will end up being pawns in a predatory con game designed to extract the equivalent of home-mortgage commitment from 17-year-olds dreaming of impossible careers as nautical archaeologists or orchestra conductors.
One former law student I contacted for this story had a nervous breakdown while struggling to pay off six-figure debt. It wasn’t until he tapped into one of the few growth industries open to young Americans that his outlook brightened. ‘I got my life back on track by working for a marijuana delivery service in Manhattan’, he says.
Matt Taibbi
I subscribe to RS and read this one last night. I’m a huge Matt Taibbi fan, although the story lacks much of his usual crafty snark that so appeals to me. I can count on one hand the number of byline writers whose stories I actually look for. Matt is top of list.
I’d like to see an investigative followup asking if there is a conspiracy to imprison Americans in debt, right from college. The theme resonates with his reports about the mortgage, banking and bail-out scandal.