I've been thinking a lot about student loan debt, the law school graduate glut, vet school loans (salaries are low and yet costs are as high as med school loans), the lack of jobs and alternatives, and the lack of social and safety nets in this country.

Personally, I think we're living in a very cruel time in American history. Not only are people pretty much on their own here in the economy and as we become isolated as individuals, we have a population that's been conditioned to believe that expecting that a government invest in its citizenry, keep its thumb on corporate excess, and provide meaningful safety nets is b-a-a-a-d. This is so wrong, and yet so many people chug down this particular flavor of Kool-Aid without really considering the damage it does.

Charles Blow wrote a column about student debt in the NY Times recently. A commenter named Kevin Rothstein (#2 in Reader Picks) wrote this:

Originally Posted by Kevin Rothstein
I can't wait to read the usual conservative comments about not feeling sorry for those who didn't pick the "right" major. In other words, if you didn't major in "Wall Street financial profiteering 101", you get what you deserve.

I graduated from Brooklyn College back when tuition was free until the beginning of my senior year. Over the decades, thousands and thousands of children from poor and middle class families, many of them the children and grandchildren of immigrants, received a free college education from CUNY, and most of them went on to live productive lives, adding untold wealth to the nation.

The GI Bill also enabled many veterans to get a college education. We used to invest in our young people. Today, we try to make a profit off of them.

This guy made a really good point. And again, we condition the students to think that getting a degree is their responsibility because it benefits only them, while completely ignoring the fact that educated people who aren't yoked to debt are essential to the survival of this nation. Worse, many of the people leading the charge benefited from affordable college educations themselves. We put all the burden on students; this is crazy. Other countries get this. We don't.