[mcv]

I think the other examples are far more blatant. Politicians fund the military by far more than the military needs, to the point that the military doesn't even know what to do with it, but there's always conditions that specific military or NASA projects take place in specific states or districts for specific politicians. The tax cuts for donations are even worse. And neither of those are solving a specific problem, which is definitely the case with the crippling student loans.

That said, I agree with you on bankruptcy being a better idea. From what I understand, these loans are harder if not impossible to get rid of through bankruptcy than other loans, despite being far more crippling.

In general, I'd like a rule that all interest-carrying loans must be able to be eliminated through bankruptcy. Only interest-free loans should be exempt. Also: a cap on student loans to discourage excessive tuition. Tuition is just insane (and where is that money going? I hear plenty of younger professors are struggling too).

[wand3r]

Yeah, I think we agree. The military spending is absurd and also extremely wasteful. However, I don’t think it is “buying votes”. Its more akin to this terrible system where senators pork bills and make trades. Paying people (or forgiving a big debt) directly before an election is buying votes. The other examples you said are just political ineptitude, horse trading and a broken governmental system.

My first pass on fixing education is that we should remove the non-discharge of student loan debt. Gen-Z could boycott this system by declaring bankruptcy immediately after graduation which would have relatively minimal affects on their lives relative to the debt and schools would be forced to lower costs